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Night of the Hunter, The

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by Rob Gonsalves

"Hellfire masterpiece."

Corny, yes; pretentious, sure; overwrought, definitely — but every frame of it is thrilling.

Robert Mitchum is stupendous as the squinty-eyed, vicious, woman-hating preacher who marries young, naïve widow Shelley Winters for the money her no-good husband (Peter Graves) stashed away. Mitchum, who carries a switchblade and has "HATE" and "LOVE" tattooed on the knuckles of either fist (you might recognize this from Spike Lee's homage in Do the Right Thing), tries to terrorize Winters' two children into revealing the whereabouts of the cash. Hard-bitten old Lillian Gish takes the kids in to protect them from Mitchum, but it's by no means clear that the old woman and the vulnerable children are any match for Mitchum the human bulldozer.

James Agee's script is long on eligiac turns of phrase ("God bless the little children — they endure") but offers some surprisingly off-color dialogue, and Agee gets right into the maniac's head. By the time the children are hiding from Mitchum in the basement, he has become a deeply frightening presence — a charming, sleek monster, like Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt. The moment when Mitchum, wading grimly after the kids in a pond, stops singing and lets out a primal shriek makes you sit up straight and stop being aware of anything outside the movie; so does the famous image of Winters in the same pond, her hair floating dreamily.

This hellfire masterpiece was Charles Laughton's first and only effort as a director. It's breathtaking in just about every detail.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=5358&reviewer=416
originally posted: 04/12/07 12:04:20

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User Comments

2/19/12 Mark Gorman Brilliant film. Go see it. 5 stars

7/10/10 mr.mike The movie and Mitchum are damn good. 4 stars

8/20/09 the dork knight Starts out slow, ends slow. But the middle is thrilling. 4 stars

3/10/09 Laughton&Mitchum Fan OVERRATED. Preachy, condescending script. Weak suspense. Dumb characters. 3 stars

1/08/09 PAUL SHORTT A FILM WITHOUT PRECEDENTS, AND WITHOUT ANY REAL EQUALS 5 stars

5/05/08 Tee i loved it i never thought i would like a film like this one 5 stars

4/14/08 Mike Absolutely brilliant. Mitchum if the personification of evil. 5 stars

4/12/07 MP Bartley Mitchum is brilliant. A tragedy Laughton never directed again... 5 stars

4/05/07 fools♫gold My god, hate it or love it, JUST WATCH IT! TOTALLY flawless. 5 stars

1/13/06 tatum Fantastic, a major accomplishment 5 stars

6/15/04 T. Maj Forgotten classic; Mitchum sexiest creep ever 5 stars

1/23/03 the Grinch Very unique. A fairy tale set during the American Depression....kind of KwaiDan-ish. 5 stars

11/09/02 Stevo Watch this movie. Almost flawless. 5 stars

9/25/02 blah & 5 stars

10/16/01 Mr. Hat Mitchum was one of the first guys on screen that by themselves freaked the hell outta me! 4 stars

6/06/01 R.W. Welch Mitchum's masterpiece. He's about as creepy as they come in this noir thriller. 5 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA 19-Feb-1955 (NR) DVD: 16-Nov-2010 UK N/A Australia N/A

Directed by Charles Laughton Written by James Agee Cast Robert Mitchum Shelley Winters Lillian Gish James Gleason Evelyn Varden Peter Graves

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